Method of blocking and finishing hats.



A. TURNER. METHOD OF BLOCKING AND FINISHING HATS.

APPLICATION BLED MAY 31, 1911.

Patented May 20, 1913.

ubewfoz Qflrmfla Turner Mme/saw COEUMBIA PLANOGRAPH c0., WASHINGTON, D. c.

ARNOLD TURNER, OF DANBUB Y, CONNECTICUT.

METHOD OF BLOCKING AND FINISHING HATS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 31, 1911.

Patented May 20,1913.

Serial No. 630,377.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARNOLD TURNER, a subject of the King of Great Britain, and resident of Danbury, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Blocking and Finishing Hats, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to hat manufacturing and particularly to a new method of forming and finishing both stiff and soft hat bodies.

Heretofore it has been customary in the art of manufacturing hats, to block the hat bodies to the desired shape and size, by stretching the rough bodies after being stiffened, over a wood hat block of suitable size and shape, and then to form the hat in a mold or die, with the assistance of a selfconforming flexible bag, being a part of a press, which bag is placed within the hat body and expanded against the inside of the same by water or other pressure. After the hats have been so blocked and formed they have been next pounced, finished and greased preparatory to being rounded, and trimmed.

As all commercial'styles of stiff hats are of an oval shape it is difiicult to pounce them either by hand or upon any of the several types of automatic crown pouncing machines, since the hat bodies when mounted upon the lathes of such machines receive an uneven treatment by the pouncer pad, which performs more work upon the front and back portions of the crown than upon the sides and consequently the pouncing machines are not as popular as they should be, and a large percentage of the better grades of hats are still pounced by hand. These same pouncing machines could and will successfully pounce a round crown hat body, that is, a crown that is of a uniform diameter throughout.

It is, therefore, the object of my invention to use an entirely different method for producing hats, from what has heretofore been the custom, and which is, to first shape the hat in the usual way, as for instance, by blocking ineither steam or hot water, and of substantially the size and shape desired including an oblong or irregular oval shaped crown, longer from front to rear than from side to side. I next reblock or press the same hat body in a round crowned die having the same circumference and crown area as the first oval shape. The round formed hat body is thus transferred on to a suitable round block, and the crown pounced the usual manner. After the round form of bat body has been thus pounced I finally reblock or repress it again in an oval mold, back to the original oblong or oval shape and size. 1

Upon the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification suitable charactors of reference will be found to designate like or corresponding parts throughout the several figures, and of which,

Figures 1 and 2 show a side and bottom plan view respectively, of a stiff hat body formed in accordance with the first step of my invention. Fig. 3, shows a vertical cross sectional view through this hat body and a forming die therefor, as used: in the second step of my method, and which includes the pressing of the hat body to a round shape. Fig. I, is a bottom plan view of the pressed round crowned hat. body shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 5, is a side elevation of the repressed round crowned hat body shown in Fig. 4, but mounted upon a vblock and lathe, and in the act of being pounced through the medium of a suitable lathe and pouncing pad, and, Fig. 6, is a side elevation of a blocked, pressed, pounced and finally repressed, stiff hat body, formed in accordance wit-h my invention.

Referring in detail to the characters of reference marked upon the drawings Figs. 1 and 2 show a common form of stiif hat body blocked in the usual way and of the usual form, including an oblong shaped crown, that is, a crown that is longer from front to rear than from side to side. The die 10 shown in Fig. 3, is a cast iron die such as are commonly used in presses for shaping hat bodies, but in this case the crown differs from the usual form of die by being perfectly round and the brim portion near the crown is provided with concave recesses on each side to suitably provide for the stock in scoop 11 of the brim of the hat body as originally formed. This die is otherwise obviously of suitable size and proportions and of the same area, so as to neither stretch nor wrinkle the crown of the hat body, and serves to merely transform the crown portion from an oblong to a round shape, and to deflect the side portions 11 of the top of the brim down as before specified so as to take up the excess or scoop portion of the brim adjacent to the edge of the crown.

The next operation of pouncing can readily be done by hand or upon most any common form of lathe 12 through the medium ofa suitable pouncer pad 13, as for instance, like that indicated in Fig. 5. These pads usually begin their operation upon theside of a crown and work toward the tip, during which time the lathe obviously rotates while the pad in addition to being held against the crown is also given a rotary or oscillatory movement. The surface of the crown of the hat body being thus finished it is but necessary to transfer the hat body back to its original oblong shape in order to complete the same, preparatory to'being trimmed.

I find that it is perfectly practical to reblock hat bodies in the above manner both before and after the finishing or pouncing operations and without injuring them in the least, and furthermore would state that the additional expense of this reblocking and forming operation is but little compared with the advantage obtained by being able torapidly and effectively pounce them by means of hand or an automatic machine, as

against a much more expensive operation of hand pouncing oval shaped hat crowns.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire to vsecure by Letters Patent is a 1. The herein described method of forming and finishing hats, which consists in first shaping the same to the desired form in cluding an oblong shaped crown, next in pressing said crown to a round shape, then to pounce the surface of the said round crown, and finally in repressing the hat body back to form the original oblong shaped crown.

2. The herein described method of forming and finishing stiff hats, which consists in first shaping the same to the desired form, then to press said crown tov a round form, next to pounce and finish the surface of the said round crown, and finally to repress the hat body back to form the original oblong shaped crown.

3. The herein described method offorming and finishing stiff hat bodies, which consists in first shaping the same to the desired form to include a scoop in the brim, next to press said crown to a different form and the brim to include a scoop in the under side of each inner side edge portion, then to pounce the surface of the said crown, and finally to repress the hat body and brim back to the original shape.

Signed at Danbury, in the county of Fairfield and "State of Connecticut this 27th day of May, A. D., 1911.

- ARNOLD TURNER.

VVit-nesses E. W. BARNUM, WV. E. BARNES.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G. 

